A spiritual account that’s too idiosyncratic to resonate with many readers.
In this debut memoir, Hunt, a teacher, describes direct communication with God.
The author, who states that she doesn’t belong to any organized church, considers herself an ordinary person who has an extraordinary relationship with God. Ever since her father’s sudden death when she was 7, she says, God has taken on a paternal role in her life. The connection is unconventional, as she describes it, because it involves God sending the author personal messages. Often, she says, these messages are delivered in “fantastically vivid” dreams that furnish Hunt with “premonitions.” She asserts that she was able to foretell the deaths of her mother and aunt; in her mother’s case, Hunt says that she heard a voice in a dream that disclosed the timing of her passing. Occasionally, she says, a message from God gently reminds her to take better care of herself; she writes that once, after hours of reading traumatic news stories online, she saw a message flash across her screen: “Lisa, stop. Don’t go any further.” The author also states her belief that God personally intervened when she needed help; for example, when she experienced car trouble, an unfamiliar woman pulled over to offer assistance and encouragement, and Hunt was certain that had God sent her: “At a time when I was feeling fearful and helpless, I sincerely believe God sent one of his angels to stand with me during this uncomfortable time.” Hunt’s memoir seems like more of an extended essay than a full-length monograph, and it focuses singularly on her spiritual experience. Her prose is unfailingly clear and its tone is as casual as a friendly chat. The story that she tells is unlikely to convince a large number of readers, but her professed aim is to bear witness, not to persuade. To that end, she successfully conveys her message that God is involved in every aspect of her life: “No matter how small or insignificant the events seem, the circumstances surrounding the events allowed me to see God’s hand in what was happening.”
A spiritual account that’s too idiosyncratic to resonate with many readers.Pub Date: Jan. 30, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5127-7294-4
Page Count: 108
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: May 21, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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